Brandon Royval: Multiple Concussions Forced Exit from UFC Vegas 103

Brandon Royval had a good reason for withdrawing from his proposed main event clash against Manel Kape on March 1.

In a video on his YouTube channel, the UFC flyweight revealed that he suffered two separate concussion in relatively close proximity. As a result, he decided that best move for his overall wellness would be to withdraw from the UFC Vegas 103 headliner. It wasn’t an easy call considering that his fight against Kape could have been a title eliminator.

“First and foremost, I’ve fought so many times injured. I’ve fought with broken hands, torn labrums, torn MCLs, all that, and for a lot less money and not as meaningful of events. Pulling out of a main event for the No. 1 spot was definitely a hard decision to make,” Royval said.

“Maybe a couple months back, I had a concussion. Nothing too crazy; I was just playing it safe, playing it smart. A couple weeks later, when I recovered, I accepted this fight, which was awesome. [I wanted to] fight Manel Kape. I respect his skills, I respect him as a striker and all that. I was training hard for this fight, and being a little reckless and being kind of in the zone for camp, I got another concussion. This one was severely worse. It’s been over a week at this point, and I’m still dealing with the repercussions of it and the symptoms of a bad concussion. And because of that reason and because of the reasoning of adding a weight cut, Manel Kape being a good striker, and this being a predominantly striking match — we felt this would be the safest move. Take some time, recover, recover the right way this time and fight at a later date. Fight when I can fully train, fully take a punch, and give you guys the best of my ability.

“I’m sorry a million times over, but I do feel like this is the best thing for my all-around health. I’ve played with plenty of injuries in my life, but you really only get one brain, and the brain cells don’t heal. All this was playing into effect as to why I thought this was the better move.”

Kape was booked against Asu Almabayev in the new UFC Vegas 103 main event after his original opponent’s withdrawal. Royval, meanwhile, is easing back into physical activity. The Factory X product doesn’t have a specific timeframe for his return, as he is currently taking a cautious approach to recovery.

“As of right now, the training has been really bare minimum — riding bikes and getting headaches andhaving onset concussion symptoms after that. It’s still only been like a week, and it’s back-to-back concussions. It’s the first time in years that I’ve had a concussion, but having them back-to-back definitely has me questioning when I want to start taking punches again or drilling hard again or any of that because of the accidents that do happen. The first concussion came from wrestling. It’s not all just striking.

“… I really can’t wait to get back in there and prove my skills. I’m definitely not done fighting, but this is something that can definitely affect the long terms of my fighting if I don’t treat it properly, and I want more fights. I want to deliver the best fights. I’m an exciting fighter. That being said, being an exciting fighter, you put yourself in a lot of danger, so I have to be really cautious of how I enter some of these fights, especially when it comes to the brain. Hopefully, I’m back soon.”

The 32-year-old Royval has won five of his last six Octagon appearances, with his only setback during that time coming against reigning flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja. “Raw Dawg” is coming off back-to-back split decision triumphs over Brandon Moreno and Tatsuro Taira.